TR Background

Historical Timeline.

2600 BC Chinese taught that disease was caused by organic inactivity and thus used physical training for the promotion of health.2000-1500 BC The Egyptians described diversion and recreation as a means of treating the sick. (Egyptian Kahun papyrus written approx. 1850 BC)420 BC The Greeks described diversion and recreation as a means of treating the sick.

400 BC Socrates and 347 BC Plato understood the relationship between physical status and mental health.359 BC Hippocrates (460-361), the father of medicine, recommended that their patients exercise in the gymnasium as a means of recovering from illness.340 BC Aristotle felt that the "education of the body must precede that of the intellect."100 BC-4 AD The Roman Asclepiades advocated massage, therapeutic baths, and exercise for improving diseased conditions. He also recommended activity treatment for patients with mental diseases. This included diversions and entertainment, but only the diversional value was recognized.1780 Clement Joseph Tissot publishes the book "Gymnastique Medicinale et Churgicale" recommending "prescribed craft and recreational activities as therapeutic exercise for the treatment of disabled muscles and joints following disease or injury."1786 Phillip Pinel introduced work treatment in the Bicetre Asylum for the Insane near Paris.1798 Benjamin Rush, M.D., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, advocated work as a remedial measure for the treatment of patients in the Pennsylvania Hospital.1801 Pinel publishes a book "Medical philosophical treatise on mental alienation" describing the method as "prescribed physical exercises and manual occupations." It is the first reference in literature to the medically prescribed use of activity for remediation.1816 Samuel Tuke, an English Quaker, established a Retreat Asylum for the Insane at York, England. He used work or occupation therapy as Pinel did but placed special emphasis on humane treatment or treating of patients as rational beings who have the capability of self-restraint. He called it "moral treatment." "...of all the modes by which patients may be induced to restrain themselves, regular employment is perhaps the most generally efficacious; and those kinds of employment are doubtless to be preferred which are accompanied by considerable bodily action, that are most agreeable to the patient, and which are most opposite to the illusions of his disease. ....every effort should be made to divert the mind of melancholias by bodily exercise, walks, conversations, reading, and other recreations. Those who manage the insane should sedulously endeavor to gain their confidence and esteem, to arrest their attention and fix it on objects opposed to their delusions...and to remember that in the wreck of the intellect the affections not unfrequently survive."1817 Thomas Scattergood, a Quaker minister who visited Retreat, brought the principles of "occupation and nonrestraint" back to the US, and helped establish the Friends Asylum for the Insane in Philadelphia.1818 McLean Asylum opens near Boston under the supervision of Rufus Wyman, M.D. He established, and was probably the first physician in the country to supervise, a program of occupational therapy.1841 The first structure for the Pennsylvania Asylum for the Insane was completed in 1841. The facility offered comforts, "humane treatment" philosophy, and mental health treatment programs that set a standard for its day. Unlike other asylums where patients were often kept chained in crowded, unsanitary wards with little if any treatment, patients at the Pennsylvania Asylum resided in private rooms, received medical treatment, worked outdoors and enjoyed recreational activities including lectures and a use of the hospital library. The facility came to be called "Kirkbride's Hospital."1854 Florence Nightengale provides recreation to casualties of the Crimean War dubbing her the Mother of Hospital Recreation.1889 Hull House, Chicago, IL, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, provides community services and recreation to the poor.1906 National Recreation Association founded1909 Recreation therapy - a type of psychotherapy - plays an important role in the management of functional neuroses. It is not enough to tell a patient to take a daily walk or to go to the theater. Ascertain what he enjoys. Fortunate is the psychopath who enjoys hunting or fishing; or, still better, the ocean or the mountains. The ceaseless lashing of the sea has a wonderfully calming effect upon the emotions; the inspiring grandeur of the mountains is also quieting and lifts one to higher mental levels. Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association - 1909, The Psychic Element in the Causation and Cure of Disease, By Frank B. Wynn, MD, Indianapolis, December 15, 1909, page 5201918 First National Recreation Congress is held.1920 Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 2 JUN 1920 (PL113)1935 Davis publishes "Recreational Therapy, Play and Mental Health."1938 American Association for Health and Physical Education, adds Recreation to the name, becomes AAHPER1943 Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 6 JUL. 1943 (PL 190) funds physical and vocational restoration, amendment to Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1920 (PL113) "remunerative occupation"1945 VA Recreation Service established. The objectives are: "to assist the doctor in getting his patients well, and to make life as satisfying and meaningful as possible for those patients who must remain in the hospital."1948 American Recreation Society, Hospital Recreation Section1948 College Recreation Association founded1953 National Association of Recreational Therapists (NART) is established Feb. 1953, their official publication is the "Inter-State News"1966 The NRA and ARS merge into the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)1968 PL 90-480 Architectural Barriers Act, tax incentives for barrier removal1968 First Special Olympics (Olympics for Retarded)1973 PL 93-113 Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 5041974 PL 94-142 Education for All Handicapped1975 Utah Recreation Therapy Licensure Rule goes in effect http://www.rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r156/r156-40.htm1984 The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA)